A 39-year-old Lower East Side man has pleaded guilty to gunning down 18-year-old Eliahs Brazoban near Rivington and Pitt Streets in June 2023, after stalking him on an e-bike through the neighborhood in the moments before the shooting. Jonathan Morales entered his plea to one count of murder in the second degree in New York State Supreme Court, and is expected to be sentenced to 20 years to life in state prison on November 20, 2026.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced the plea in a post on X, writing that his office had secured accountability in the killing. According to court documents cited by Alvin Bragg
, Morales targeted Brazoban over an alleged underlying conflict involving someone close to him. Bragg said Morales murdered Brazoban “in a brutal, premeditated attack on a Manhattan sidewalk.”…